The president's confidante has been on a "listening tour" to "start
a conversation with the rest of the world"  namely, the Muslim
world, beginning with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey  but there
were too many times when she just didn't know what to say.

A Washington Post anecdote from day one captures the disconnect.
Asked in Egypt whether she was going to meet with the Muslim
Brotherhood, the opposition party banned by Egyptian president Hosni
Mubarak with deep roots in terrorism and a catchy motto ("Allah is
our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Qur'an is our law.
Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope"),
Hughes "turned to an aide and indicated she was not sure of the
answer. The aide whispered back, and Hughes replied, 'We are
respectful of Egypt's laws.'"

I guess that means no, but the non-denial denial is open to
interpretation. Maybe she wanted to meet with the Muslim
Brotherhood, but couldn't. Or maybe she didn't want to say something
as harshly non-conversational as "no" because the popular MB might
be elected one of these days. Or maybe she just didn't know.

But worse than not knowing what to say is saying too much. Or saying
the wrong thing. Or even saying anything at all. Hughes committed
all of the above, a faux-pas trifecta, after meeting with Sheikh
Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University, the
academic center of Sunni Islam. It was a "wonderful meeting," she
explained, because the two of them were able to talk "about the
common language of the heart."

Oh, brother. Is this an Under Secretary of State or a sorority
sister? Hughes burbled on about the leadership of Al-Azhar "in
speaking out against extremism, against terrorism, (which) is not in
keeping with the tenets of Islam"  natch. The sheikh "made the
point that all divine religions are built on a spirit of love," she
said, "and (that) it is important that all of us work together to
fight extremism, to fight terrorism."

What a guy. Hearing Hughes talk about Sheikh Tantawi, you could
almost forget what he said in 2002, as translated from a report by
the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), when he called on
Palestinian Muslims to "intensify the martyrdom operations against
the Zionist enemy"  men, women and children  and described the
barbarous slaughter as "the highest form of Jihad operations" and "a
legitimate act according to (Islamic) law." Maybe that's the "spirit
of love" Hughes was gushing about.

Then there was what Sheikh Tantawi said in 2003, also reported by
MEMRI, when he called for jihad against U.S. forces in Iraq. "Jihad
is an obligation for every Muslim when Muslim countries are subject
to aggression," he explained. "The gates of Jihad are open until the
Day of Judgment, and he who denies this is an infidel or one who
abandons his religion." This he said during a sermon at  where
else?  Al-Azhar.

I juxtapose Hughes' hearts-and-flowers assessment with the
hate-and-fanaticism reality for a reason. Obviously, the resources
available to me  the invaluable MEMRI Web site  are available to
the State Department. I find it difficult to believe that Hughes or
her advisors were unaware of the jihadist incitement Sheikh Tantawi
is prone to, even though he's also on record with contradictory
statements. Why did the Bush administration determine that this
meeting was in the best interests of our nation? If the war on
terror  always a PC punch-pulling moniker  is turning into the
accommodation of terror, maybe it makes sense to make nice. There
is, actually, a long tradition of such accommodation between the
non-Muslim world and the Muslim world, and it is contained within
the blighted history of "dhimmitude." This is the term coined by
historian Bat Ye'or to describe the institutionalized inferiority of
non-Muslims (dhimmi) under Muslim rule. Hughes' paying tribute to
the likes of Sheikh Tantawi is dhimmi behavior. As is, frankly, the
whole "listening tour"  an ill-conceived campaign to improve Uncle
Sam's "image" with a Muslim world whose opposition to a viable
Israel and a free Iraq is hardly skin deep.

Personally, I'd like to see a "like it or lump it tour." But that,
of course, would mean keeping up the fight.

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JWR contributor Diana West is a columnist and editorial writer for the Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.